Observations, articles, opinions etc. in Dutch and English. The author, Bert de Bruin (Yonathan Dror Bar-On), is a Dutch-Jewish historian, who has specialized in modern Jewish history and in the history of the Middle East, and who in 1995 emigrated from the Netherlands to Israel. He wrote one book (2008), and edited another (2011), both in Dutch. For feedback please post a comment, or send this blog's author an email: (hisdutchname)atyahoodotcom

Sunday, September 10, 2006

On the eve of the fifth 'anniversary' of the terror attacks that killed over 3,000 people in New York, Washington DC and Shanksville, PA, I was zapping and came across the BBC Prime channel, where I watched Michael Palin stay in a boat-hotel on a beautiful lake in a region that has had its share of religious-political terror, Kashmir. In this episode of his journey across the Himalaya, the world's greatest mountain range, Michael Palin also visits Shimla, the summer capital of the British Empire in India, and talks with the Dalai Lama and with other Tibetians who live in exile in northern India . I am not a globetrotter but I love to watch Mr Palin on his journeys. When I see and hear him I could almost believe that traveling to exotic places is fun :-)